featherlight ✅

the truth and nothing but

"You've got a warm heart,
You've got a beautiful brain."

"Gimme a word that means similarly," Gabe says, stirring his coffee, "I've used it a total of-" he pauses and glances back to the laptop screen before him. "Six times. In the past hour."

"Ever heard of a thesaurus?" I say, opening a new tab on my MacBook to search up synonyms for him. 

"I've used every word out there already. I'm out of them."

I sit back in my chair and think. The café around us is busy enough for it us to talk without feeling awkward, still managing to not be too crowded. I smell coffee grounds, tea leaves, and cheesecake. Oh, jeez. I know on an intellectual level that it's ridiculous how mad I am at myself when I give in and order a chocolate chip cookie. I bite into it and feel it melt in my mouth, the chocolate seeping over my tongue. 

With a sigh, I put the cookie back on the plate and open up the book beside me. In it is Macbeth, complete with my various annotations and highlights, as well as Polly's doodles. Gabe and I are meant to be making an essay and a poster on whether Lady Macbeth is truly to blame for her husband's downfall. Kyle was meant to be here doing it with us today, but he has football practice or something- which means that he'll have to come over to my house tomorrow to work on the poster with me. Only me, that is, because Gabe has to help his father paint the garage. 

Gabe stretches out his hand and breaks a piece of my cookie off. I glare at him but he laughs and eats it. "Next time you ask," I say. 

He shrugs. "I'm your brother from another mother. Well, basically. I figured I don't even need to ask anymore." 

I take an ice cube from the bottom of my green tea and place it in my mouth, scowling, but it's hard to twist your mouth into any sort of angry shape when there's something in your mouth. Gabe laughs at me as I attempt to look as pissed as possible without ice exploding out from between my lips. 

He has the kind of laugh that's very... distinctive. When I'm in school I can always hear it even if he's at the other end of the corridor, and me and Em always look at each other go, "Gabe." It's contagious and uplifting, but weird. 

"Lady Macbeth," I say after a few minutes, tired of writing, "was crazy. And so was her husband. The end."

"Out, damned spot!" Gabe quotes, except his accent makes Lady Macbeth sound very little like the King of Scotland's deranged wife. He stretches his neck and looks at his watch. "I'd call that a day, wouldn't you?"

I scowl at him again. "Maybe that's because-"

"I've done enough for today," he finishes, at the same time that I say, "-you don't need to finish the rest off tomorrow because you'll be painting a garage."

He grins. "Well, I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with Kyle. You guys gonna be alone?"

"He's bringing some friends," I say nonchalantly. 

His smile gets wider and he leans forward theatrically. "Like?"

"Chase," I begin. "And Ashton."

Gabe leans back. "Ah, good ol' Ashton. He was in our math class a few years back, d'you remember?"

"Yes."

He looks at me curiously. "What exactly is going on between you guys? When did you two get so close?"

"Are we close?" I ask, avoiding the first question. 

"Well, duh. He went all that way to see you at your grandparents' house."

"How on earth did you know that?"

"Let's see. Maybe he texted me asking to see if I knew your dad's number so that he could ask where you were because he really wanted to see you and-"

"Shut up," I say. "Tell me the actual story."

"Don't believe me, Greene?" I shake my head. "Well, too bad. That's the truth, and nothing but. And so I was like, okay, I'll ask my dad for the number because he's friends with yours and then Ashton called your dad asking if it would be okay if he came over to say hi and-"

"Is that why my dad was so chill about Ashton randomly turning up?"

"Dunno. I wasn't there, Kat. But yeah. Probably."

I sit back in my chair, stunned. "Are you serious?" I take another ice cube out of the glass. 

"Yeah. So are you gonna tell me what's going on?"

I frown. "Well, he's my friend, and..."

"And if you want me to be your wingman, or whatever, then I'm right here."

"Now I'm glad that you're painting a garage tomorrow. Because I don't need a wingman."

Gabe laughs and licks the whipped cream off his straw. "Little Katherine, just remember for tomorrow that you are meant to be making a poster tomorrow, alright?"

I throw a paper napkin at his face, and he gallantly lets it hit him right in the nose. He looks at the half-finished cookie lying on my plate. "You gonna finish that?"

Am I?

I pick it up and look at it. 

I think, 160 calories.

I think, Ashton asked my dad if he could visit me. 

"Yes," I say, breaking off a piece and putting it in my mouth. "I'm gonna finish it."